In The End
by Gyllene
Summary: A few months after Rhodes, Sookie is alone and tired. While driving home one night from work, an encounter changes lives forever. Hurt/comfort, drama, angst, tragedy


In The End

A few months after Rhodes, Sookie is alone and tired. While driving home one night from work, an encounter changes their lives forever.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to Charlaine Harris.

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It had been months since I had seen or heard from any Supe whatsoever. Quinn, my supposed boyfriend, I hadn't seen him since I turned my back to him, as he plunged a piece of wood into Andre's heart. Bill, my ex-boyfriend, my first real boyfriend, my first love, and my first heartbreak, has been out of the country once he recovered from Rhodes. Amelia, my ex roommate, moved back to New Orleans. Bob, her ex-boyfriend, had called her up saying he forgave her for turning him into a cat during one of their sexual exploits.

Last but not least was Eric, my once lover when he didn't know himself. A man who only existed for a week but I gave him my whole heart, only to have it broken when the witches curse was broken and he no longer remembered our brief time together. I haven't seen him since Rhodes when we were riding down the Pyramid of Giza together on Pam's coffin.

Eric, who I am now bonded to by blood even though I don't know what that means. Every once in awhile I get an emotion caress through my body that I know is not mine. When I've been down, crying myself to sleep, from the loneliness, I feel a warmth fill my body and it comforts me like a warm embrace. Other times I've felt a sharp pain run through my body for only a second and then it's whisked away as if it was only my imagination playing a trick on me.

I've called Pam, my female vampire friend, who I've also not seen, to ask how Eric is and all I get is that he's fine and that I shouldn't worry my pretty little head. Try and stay out of trouble, she tells me. They're busy and don't have time to come to my rescue. It's as if I go looking for trouble, it just seems to find me, all on its own.

I was driving home from a double shift from work, feeling tired from work, but also from the lack of sleep I've been getting. Every time I fall asleep I keep seeing the horrors of Rhodes or the hotel collapsing with all my friends inside and there's nothing I can do to save them. Night after night I keep having these horrific nightmares. It's to the point I don't want to sleep. I don't want to relive the nightmare that was that day or the nightmares that my subconscious is making up on its own.

I looked over to my radio to turn it on and try to find an upbeat song to sing to on my way home. There's no one in the car with me to listen to how badly I will belt out the tune that I hoped would sooth some of my weariness and my nerves of impending sleep.

When I looked back up, after searching for an upbeat song to sing to only to find depressing country songs through my radio that barely works, I saw a figure in the road. I swerved to miss the lone figure, only to hit a tree at 40 mph. Unfortunately, my car didn't have air bags to save me from the impact of my head to the steering wheel.

When I came to, I could feel something wet and sticky covering the right side of my face. My whole body was aching and I was unsure if I'd be able to get out of the car by myself. I needed to find my phone but who should I call. I slowly moved my hand to try and touch the blinding and pulsing pain that was above my eyebrow. Just as I was about to touch the area where the throbbing pain was coming from, my car door was torn open.

I turned my head only in time to see a red-headed vampire with sharp, deadly fangs, rip me from my car. It all happened so quickly. One minute I was in my car and the next I was pinned to the ground by a vampire I had never seen before. I could feel his fangs buried deep into my neck. My blood being pulled from my body as my life was slowly being drawn out of me.

It tried to fight back with all my strength but I'm afraid it wasn't enough. His knees pinned my legs down to the cold ground, as one hand held my arms above my head in a vise like grip. His other hand was splayed across my face to give him better access to my neck.

I was starting to see black dots clouding my vision. I knew I didn't have much more time left. I knew in just a few moments that I was going to die and I had many regrets. I was past the fear that had gripped my body ever since I had been wretched from my car. I was becoming light headed and weak. My eyes slowly started to close even though I fought to keep them open. Afraid that once they finally closed, they would never open again. I would be no more.

I felt a sharp pain as his fangs were torn from my neck, leaving an even bigger wound for me to bleed out from. I gradually turned my head to the commotion to my left. I was still light headed and my vision was blurred, but it looked like two vampires were fighting.

One had a remarkable resemblance to Eric. He was tall, had broad shoulders, thick muscular thighs, bulging biceps and long, blonde hair. I watched as the vampires fought each other, throwing punches and flinging each other to the ground. My eyes continued on their final journey. I could feel my heartbeat slowing down with each breath that I took.

I watched as my vampire savior, wrapped his hands around the head of my killer. It looked like he was going to break his neck but continued the movement until he ripped the head from its body.

In a movement too fast for me to see, my vampire was kneeling down beside me examining my injuries. I watched as he tore into his wrist and let his blood flow over the deep wound on my neck. When his wrist closed and he started licking the wound until it finally closed.

He pulled me to his chest, sat down on the ground and started to rock us back and forth. I looked up to his normally beautiful face to see it etched in pain. His eyes were rimmed with red and his mouth was in a grim line.

"Eric…" was all I managed to say. I was too weak to get any more out. I tried to lift my hand to his face. To try and smooth out the worry and pain but the moment my hand moved, Eric reached out to stop it.

"Don't move, don't talk. You're too weak. I'm sorry it took me so long to get here," he said as one lone, red tear streaked down his cheek.

"You're here now,and that's all that matters. Thank you for being here… with me in the end," I said as my own tears escaped and trailed down my face.

My eyes closed and I don't know how long they had been closed, but when I opened my eyes again, Eric's body was wrapped around mine. I was still enclosed in his arms, my body pressed against his chest, but his head was hanging down in defeat as I felt our bodies tremble. Why were we shaking? I tried to move my body but Eric only held me tighter. It was then I realized it was Eric. He was trembling.

Finally, he lifted his head up after realizing that I wanted his attention. His face was streaked with bloody tears. I wanted to reach up and touch him, but he was not letting me move.

"Why are you crying?" I asked him, tasting the familiar sweet metallic taste of Eric's blood that coated my tongue. I couldn't understand what was upsetting him. I hadn't seen him in months. Hell, we had hardly talked at all since the curse had been broken. We no longer had the friendship that I desperately missed. We no longer laughed and joked with each other. There was only tension when we were together.

"I don't want to let you go," he said as he screwed his eyes shut. When he opened them, I saw the desperation in them.

I took in a long, slow, deep breath. "Why don't you heal me? Do you not want to?" I asked him. Normally, I would never ask, but I realized that I had very little time left and the only thing that would save me was his ancient vampire blood. I'd always fought him when it came to taking his blood but he had always offered it to me, no matter how big or small the injury. Only this time he was not. Had I rejected him too many times?

"I would love nothing more than to give you more of my blood, but you've lost too much of your own. If I give you any more, with so much of yours gone, I'm afraid that you will be turned and I know that is something you have never wanted."

"It's not but I still don't understand why you're crying. Why you're upset," I said as I looked into his eyes searching for an answer.

Eric shook his head while staring down at me, "Do you not know how deeply I care for you?"

"Care for me? No. I haven't seen you since Rhodes and even before that our relationship has been so strained. I know I'm an asset to you but that's all I am to you."

"You have never been an asset to me. I may have made it seem like that's all you were to me in the beginning, but you were in a relationship with Bill, and letting me know how much you disliked me. I couldn't let you know how I felt about you. How I feel."

"Why have you been so distant?"

"Every time you're around me I can feel how upset you are. I couldn't stand to feel your sadness for what you've lost when I cannot remember our time together or do anything about it. I thought staying away was the best option and I've been healing since Rhodes. I didn't want you to see me. See how badly I was burned. You've already seen me once before when I was weak and took care of me. I didn't want you to see me like that again."

"I wish you had let me come see you and you're right I would have wanted to take care of you. That's what you do for your friends and for those you love," I said the last part in a whisper, but I knew that Eric had heard me when his head snapped up.

"You love me?" he asked astounded at me.

"Why do you think it hurt me to see you after the curse was broken? I gave my heart to you, to my Eric, and it hurt more than I ever thought was possible when you woke up and didn't remember our time together. I couldn't look at you without seeing the masks that you wore every day. Knowing that you would never, could never drop it for me."

"I would for you but only you," he said earnestly.

"But you didn't."

"No, I didn't and if I could do it all over again, I would let you see the real me, Sookie. I would drop the facade, drop my masks for you," he said while brushing his knuckles along my cheekbone.

"Can you just hold me? I'm tired and it's been so long since the last time I was in your arms."

"Anything you want. It won't be long now," he said as he placed a tender kiss to my forehead.

"Are you fully healed now?"

"Yes, finally. I know you felt some of my pain through the bond we forged when we were Rhodes. For that I am truly sorry."

"For which, the pain or the bond?" I asked him.

"Both. I've never wanted to inflict pain on you and the way that we formed our bond. I would have wanted it to be both of our decisions. Something we both wanted. I know how much you like to have a choice," he said with a small smile on his lips.

"Right after the wreck, I was in so much pain and now it's all gone. You don't even feel cold anymore."

"Your body is slowly cooling down that is why you don't feel the difference. As for your pain, I'm taking it in through our bond. You don't deserve to feel any pain, yours or my own."

"You can do that?" he nodded, holding me a little tighter. "Will you miss me when I'm gone?"

"More than you know, my sweet Sookie," he said with a sad smile. "If the gods are kind, I'll see you in Valhalla."

I gave him a weak smile, "That's a nice thought. Maybe I'll see you in heaven in another thousand years. Perhaps, you will live forever, and every couple hundred years you will think about me or will you forget about me entirely?"

Eric shook his head and quickly pressed his lips to my own. He kept his eyes opened as if committing every detail to memory. While thick blood tears streamed down his face, he held me close.

"Never," his voice trembled. "I will never be able to forget about you, Sookie Stackhouse. Never in a million years."

~ The End ~

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Let me know what you think. This is not how I envisioned this story ending when I wrote it but this is the way my muse took me. In the end I was crying. Thank you for reading!

Thank you to the lovely Virala for loving this story and helping me fine tune it! xo


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